Sport

Ex-Saint White joins Rovers

EX-SAINT Jamie White has been reunited with his former Salisbury City boss Darrell Clarke at Bristol Rovers – and promised he will score plenty of goals for the Pirates as they look to reclaim their Football League status.

The 24-year-old from Harefield, Southampton, joins Rovers on a free transfer after terminating his contract with Salisbury, who yesterday announced the appointment of Moroccan businessman AS Outail M Touzar as their new chairman – and unveiled a Saudi Arabian prince as their first potential summer signing.

Salisbury – under the new ownership of Touzar and Mark Winter – have been given until Thursday to get their finances in order if they are to preserve their place in the Conference National.

The Conference have told them they must pay their outstanding debts, including players’ unpaid wages which is believed to run into thousands.

White is understood to have used the fact that the terms of his contract had been breached by late wage payments to make his exit from the club on a free transfer.

White was an outstanding prospect at Saints, winning the a c a d e m y player-of-theseason for 2006/07, but he had to accept his prize on crutches – one of a spate of injuries that sank his hopes of a professional career at St Mary’s.

He played for S h r e w s b u r y Town (loan), E a s t l e i g h , Totton & Eling a n d Australian outfit Whitsunday Miners along the road to recovery and his fortunes changed dramatically for the better when he bagged over 50 Wessex League goals for Winchester City in 2011/12, moving to Salisbury at the end of that campaign.

He averaged a goal every other game at Salisbury, netting 37 in 73 games for the Wiltshire club and sharing the Conference South ‘golden boot’ with Havant’s Ollie Palmer in 2012/13, and he is confident there are plenty more in the tank.

Asked what he would bring to Rovers, White stated simply: “Goals!”

“Basically anything in the box will be in the back of the net,” he promised.

“Daz (Clarke) knows me very well and I’m sure he’ll get the best out of me.”

Clarke, looking to take Rovers straight back up following relegation from League Two, said: “Jamie is a goalscorer who averages one goal every two games.

“He has the potential to be a 20- goal-a-season man.”

Salisbury’s first transfer target is Khalid Bin Bader Alsaud, a 19-yearold Saudi prince who played for Conference South side Bromley last season.

Chairman Touzar said: “I’ve been receiving great reviews on him from my scouts and advisors.”

Meanwhile, both Salisbury and Hereford United have been warned to get their ownership issues and debts sorted by Thursday – or risk being thrown out of the Conference.

Joint owner Winter said: “We will be doing everything we possibly can not to let their (the Conference’s) trust down and hopefully, come Thursday night at 5pm, we’ll still be a Conference club.